Restaurants and hospitals have statutory type hygiene requirements to have their staff and employees clean their hands after using restroom facilities. Often, restaurants and hospitals rely on an honor type system to remind the employees and staff to wash their hands. Also signs are used to remind users of the importance of cleaning their hands. Furthermore, hands that are apparently clean can carry germs. So that an individual disinclined to wash their hands after using a restroom will not ordinarily appear to have dirty hands. Many restroom users also ignore and forget the need to clean their hands. Furthermore, many restroom users only rinse their hands with water and no cleanser which is not adequate enough to clean off germs and bacteria.
Several U.S. patents have been proposed but fail to adequately solve the above problems. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,877,005 to Apgar; 3,967,478 to Guinn; 4,081,796 to Tabron; 4,286,331 to Anderson et al.; 4,649,397 to Heaton et al.; 4,698,620 to Marshall; 4,896,144 to Bogstad; 5,202,666 to Knippscheer; 5,610,589 to Evans et al.; 5,734,325 to Johnson et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,478 to Guinn describes an electronic device where a door can be opened by an electrically powered sensor that detects cleansing agent residue. Besides the need for an electrical power supply, the Guinn device does not require the user actually wash their entire hands with the cleansing agent since the user can allow a dab of cleanser on the back of one hand which can be picked up by the sensor. Merely ensuring the restroom user stood in front of a sink, ran water and even tapped the soap container does not mean they washed and cleansed both hands.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,144 to Bogstad describes an elaborate electronic "hand washing alert" device where visible and audible alarms remind persons using the restrooms to wash their hands. Obviously, the Bogstad device does not require persons to wash both hands.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,666 to Knippscheer describes another elaborate electronic system where persons wearing name tag transmitters/receivers enter washrooms and monitors detect the tag transmitters/receivers, and various bathroom devices such as sinks, hair dryers, soap dispensers etc.when used send signals to the tag transmitters/receivers. However, none of these sensors, transmitters, nor receivers actually require the person to wash both hands thoroughly. Persons, can merely turn on a sink and not wash their hands with the Knipscheer system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,610,589 to Evans et al. describes another elaborate electronic tagging system where a worker's tag is light activated when they enter a washroom, and is only deactivated when a "gas" such as "alcohol" is emitted onto one's hands by by a "soap dispenser", which allows the tag light to be deactivated.
Other patents have been proposed for releasing dye type substances. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,877,005 to Apgar; 4,081,796 to Tabron; 4,649,397 to Heaton et al.; 4,698,620 to Marshall; and 5,734,325 to Johnson. However, these devices are directed to alarm type systems that release nonremovable dyes onto a person's hand for use as false fire alarm alert devices and theft prevention tags. These patents are directed toward applying a hard to remove permanent type marker to a person.
None of the patents described above would be useful to remind persons using restrooms to wash and cleanse their hands.